as in labor
very hard or unpleasant work
after years of toil in a sweatshop, Kim was finally able to start her own dressmaking business
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in tangle
usually toils plural
something that catches and holds
a married woman hopelessly caught in the toils of an extramarital affair
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in to labor
to devote serious and sustained effort
toiled for many years on the mammoth outdoor sculpture
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of toil
Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
Yet the eventual dominance of the Dutch and English émigré way of life wasn’t without its pleasures, as hard as the physical toil of working the land was for the new arrivals.
—JSTOR Daily, 18 Oct. 2025
James Vincent, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Jackson spent time in and out of shelters in grade school and remembers how her mother toiled to keep her in class and out of harm's way.
—Christopher Cann, USA Today, 28 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for toil
Noun
But to borrow Manidis’s framework, the drive to create such a tool conflates useless toil with meaningful labor.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
Yet the eventual dominance of the Dutch and English émigré way of life wasn’t without its pleasures, as hard as the physical toil of working the land was for the new arrivals.
—JSTOR Daily, 18 Oct. 2025
Verb
But for those who’d been toiling away on humanoid robots for decades, Musk’s announcement was something more than a publicity stunt.
—James Vincent, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Jackson spent time in and out of shelters in grade school and remembers how her mother toiled to keep her in class and out of harm's way.
—Christopher Cann, USA Today, 28 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for toil
Recent Examples of Synonyms for toil
Verb
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Lahmeyer, the Oklahoma pastor, said pastors and Christian leaders often labor under the burden of expectations.—
John Blake,
CNN Money,
8 Jan. 2026
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The team labored in home losses to Houston and the Los Angeles Chargers, with Mahomes ultimately suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the fourth quarter of that setback against the Chargers.—
Jesse Newell,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
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His strength on defense was particularly impressive for a freshman, as TCU big men Xavier Edmonds and David Punch struggled to create good looks inside the lane thanks in large part to the defense of Peat.—
Steven Johnson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
11 Jan. 2026
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Players throughout the Heat’s rotation struggled to make shots.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
11 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Mike, played by a rangy, companionable Hugh Jackman, is a striving singer in Milwaukee who has battled the bottle, cannot consistently pay his mortgage, and keeps himself going by appearing at the state fair dressed up to look (and sound) like Don Ho.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
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Everybody loves putting on those Nora Efron classics, and the filmmakers here were striving to make something that was a modern answer to those that was in discussion with When Harry Met Sally and those greats.—
Nicole Fell,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Magic Erasers work well for walls, baseboards, porcelain sinks, tubs, appliance interiors, and grout.—
Tessa Cooper,
The Spruce,
13 Jan. 2026
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Back-to-back 11-6 seasons ending in a wild-card whimper wasn’t what anyone who enjoyed showing up to work all season at The Bolt wanted, of course.—
Mirjam Swanson,
Oc Register,
13 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Toil.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toil. Accessed 19 Jan. 2026.
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